Outdoor Life: A permit for pompano is hard to catch

By Scott Lindsey / Outdoors Writer

Published: Tuesday, September 10, 2013 at 10:25 AM.

If you lucky enough to catch a permit this year remember; they have to be 22 inches to the fork maximum and not less than 11 inches. The limit unlike pompano is 1 per harvester per day not to exceed 2 per boat per day.

There is a closed season on them which is May 1 through July 31. I have no idea if these fish are edible just because they resemble pompano. Hardhead catfish resemble channel cats but I wouldn’t recommend eating one.

If you fish this area you already know we have pompano that frequent the gulf and bays. But did you know we have its big cousin from down south also? It’s big cousin being the permit.

About the closest place you can consistently catch permit is in Tampa Bay around the Sunshine Skyway Bridge. Any farther north and its hit and miss. I personally have never caught a permit here or in the keys but I have seen some big ones in Key West.

The first ones I ever heard of being caught here were by my son while fishing for pompano around old pass several years back. Since then a few have shown up at the jetties and on the beach.

Where these fish come from or where they go is a mystery. In the keys they target them around wrecks and big rock piles where I saw the ones I saw. Pompano don’t seem to hang around wrecks they just show up one day and are gone the next.

I know of a few wrecks in shallow water such as the tug boat Simpson and have wondered, if permit hang around wrecks farther south why not the Simpson and who knows maybe they do at times.

When I fish for pompano from a boat I sight fish for them in shallow water usually three feet or less but sometimes in water as deep as the Green Reef. Most of the time you only get a throw or two because they are so scary. Usually when you spook them they take off and you have to hunt another school.

Permit will sometimes run with pompano and unless you really know what to look for you might never know they are there. A favorite trick for pompano and permit is doing what I call floating. When these fish ‘float’ they will lay on their sides near the surface. When they do this they have a bluish tint to their usual silver color.

If you lucky enough to catch a permit this year remember; they have to be 22 inches to the fork maximum and not less than 11 inches. The limit unlike pompano is 1 per harvester per day not to exceed 2 per boat per day.

There is a closed season on them which is May 1 through July 31. I have no idea if these fish are edible just because they resemble pompano. Hardhead catfish resemble channel cats but I wouldn’t recommend eating one.